Overhead-track covering for outside doors.



BIO-786,656. PATENTED AUG. 18, 1903. J. E. WHITAGRE. OVERHEAD TRACK COVERING FOR OUTSIDE DOORS.

. APPLIOATION FILED DEC. 8. 1902.

N0 MODEL. 2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

n1: mums PETERS c0. wow-mm). WASHINGTON u v PATENTED AUG. 18, 1903.

J. E. WHITAGRE. OVERHEAD TRACK COVERING FOR OUTSIDE DOORS,

APPLIOAT10N FILED DEG. 8, 1902.

2 SHBBTS-SHBBT 2.

N0 MODEL.

1m; Norms PETERS co, mmaumo wAsr-mmom u c UNTTnn STATES Patented August 18, 1903.

PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES E. \VHITAORE, OF CHARTERGROVE, ILLINOIS.

SPEGIFIGA'EIGNforn-ring part of Letters Patent No. 736,656, dated August 18, 1963.

Application filed December 8, 1902. Serial No. 134,481. (No model.)

To (LZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JAMES E. WHITAoRE, a

citizen of the United States, residing at Ohar tel-grove, in the county of Dekalb and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Overhead-Track Ooverings for Outside Doors, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvementsin overhead-track coverings for outside doors, and refers more specifically to a track-covering adapted for use in connection with barndoors and analogous doors which travel upon overhead rails.

Among the objects of the invention are to provide a covering which will not only cover the track and upper portion of the door, including the hangers thereof, so as to exclude rain and snow, but will also prevent the access of birds to the space within the covering, thereby preventing the latter from building their nests therein, and thus obstructing the.

travel of the door, to provide a construction which will form an efflcient weatherproof closure to prevent the access of cold air to the interior of the apartment over the top of the door when the latter is closed, and, in general, to provide simple and improved details of construction and arrangement in a device of the character referred to.

To the above ends the invention consists in the matters hereinafter described, and more particularly pointed out in the appended claims, and the invention will be more readily understood from the following description by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which* Figure l is an outside perspective view of my improved track-covering applied to abarn or analogous structure. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical sectional view taken in a plane at one side of the edge of the barn-door and showing the latter in end or edge elevation. Fig. 3 is a front elevation of fragmentary portions of the structure, a part of the trackcovering being broken away to disclose the relative arrangement of the track and doorhanger. Fig. 4t is a transverse vertical sectional view through the track-covering and upperportion of the door, showing a modified construction. Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig.

of the modification shown in Fig. 4.

Deseribing'first the construction shown in Figs. 1 to 3, inclusive, 1 designates as a whole an ordinary suspended door; 2, the usual hangers whereby the door is suspended from an overhead track; 3, the overhead-track rail secured to the outside of the barn in the usual manner, and 4 the supporting-wheels j ournaled in the hangers 2. 5 designates as a whole a hood-like covering or housing, which is desirably formed of sheet metal and secured at its upper and end margins to the outer wall of the building, said covering being shaped to provide a downwardly and outwardly inclined roof portion 6, a substantially vertical side wall 7, which extends as close to the path of the door-hanger as practical without interfering with the latter and terminates at its lower edge in an outwardly and downwardly directed lip 8, which serves to direct the drip outwardly away from the door. Desirably in order to economize in cost of material the hood is made of relatively thin sheet metal and is reinforced by a series of stilfening-ribs 9, applied to extend transversely or vertically upon the outer surface of the covering. In order to prevent access of birds to the in terior of the hood or covering, I provide guardflanges 10 and 11, which are respectively secured to the outer face of the door at the upper edge thereof and to the outer face of the wall of the building at a point immediately above the upper edge of the door. Conven iently the flange members 10 and 1.1 are of angle-iron construction, thereby affording a convenient means of securing the member rigidly to the supporting structure in such manner that the guard portion thereof extends horizontally therefrom, as described. The guard-flange 10 is coextensive in length with the horizontal width of the door, while the guard-flange 11 extends the full length of the interior of the track-coverin The guardflange 10 forms a weathering which prevents the flow of wind upwardly beneath the lip 8 of the hood and thence over the top of the door, and so into the apartment, while the guard-flange ll likewise acts as a weathering to prevent the downflow of air from the interior of the hood to the apartment and further serves as a guard which prevents the access of birds to the interior of the hood. In a practical construction the distance intervenof the hood opposite said flange is small enough to prevent sparrows from passing therethrough. In order to further enhance the weathering effect of the guard 10,the lower portion of the outer wall of the hood is provided with an internal groove 12, arranged to register with and receive the outer edge of the said flange 10. The operation ofthis construction is entirely obvious from the foregoing description.

In the modification shown in Figs. 4 and 5 the coveringis adapted to a door which is not only suspended so as to travel upon ways, but is also hinged to the hangers or carriers, so that it is susceptible of swinging outwardly. In this construction, 1 designatesthe door, hinged at its upper edge, as indicated at 13, to the hangers 14, which latter are provided with the usual. track-wheels 15 at their upper ends and are provided at the lower ends with hook-like extensions 16, which underlap the lower edge of the track-rail 3, and thus prevent the hangers from being displaced when the door is swung outwardly on its pivots. In a construction of this character the hook portion 16 of the hangers precludes the use of a guard-flange similar to the guardflange 11 of the previously-described construction, and means are provided for preventing access of weather and birds to the interior of the hood, as follows: The hood 5 is constructed and arranged generally like that previously described, terminating at its lower edge in a drip-flange 8, and being provided with an in ternal groove 12, which cooperates with a guard-flange 10, analogous to the corresponding parts of the previously-described construction. Upon the inner face of the vertical wall 7 of the hood and at a point horizontally opposite the upper edge of the trackrail 3 are hinged two guard-flanges 17, each being equal to one-half the length of the interior of the hood, hinged so as to move independently of each other, and each of such width as to close the space between the inner vertical wall of the hood and the wall of the building when resting in horizontal position, as indicated clearly in Fig. 4. In order to automatically raise said flaps as the door is shifted from its open to its closed position, or vice versa, the twohangers thereof are each provided at their remote sides with inclined cam projections 18, which have inclined edges or cam-surfaces 19, adapted to engage the end edges of the respective flaps and tilt the latter upwardly into the position shown in dotted lines at 17 as the door is shifted in one direction or the other-that is to say, when the door is in closed position the flap then opposite the door will be held uplifted, while the flap uniting the other end of the hood will have dropped down and rest in horizontal position on the upper edge of the track-rail. Vice versa, when the door is in open position the flap opposite the dooropening will drop down and rest upon the rail, While the other flap will be uplifted. In order to make certain the dropping of the flap17 into horizontal position when permitted by the recession of the door, I preferably secure upon the interior of the hood platesprings 20, respectively located opposite the upper edges of the flaps when the latter are in uplifted position and adapted to be pressed slightly as the flaps approach their upper limits of movement.

It will be seen from the foregoing that it will be impossible for birds to obtain access to the interior of the hood when the door is shifted to its limit of movement in either direction, since the door itself will occupy one end of the hood and prevent access thereto, while the flap at the opposite end of the hood will prevent access to the latter. The weathering-flange 10 serves the same function in this construction as in the previously described form, and it is to be noted in this connection that said flange is so arranged as not to interfere with the free pivotal movement of the door.

WVhile I have herein shown and described the preferred embodiment of my invention, yet it will be obvious that the details thereof may be modified to some extent without departing from the invention, and I do not, therefore, limit myself to the details of construction shown except to the extent that they are made the subject of specific claims.

I claim as my invention 1. An overhead-track covering for doors, comprising a sheet-metal hood adapted to be secured to the outer wall of the apartment to cover and inelose the track, a sliding door and a flange member mounted upon said door and arranged to extend horizontally within the lower part of said hood, and into proximity to the outer depending wall thereof for the pur pose set forth.

2. In combination with a sliding door and the carrier mechanism thereof, a hood mounted to inelose said carrier mechanism and the upper edge of the door, a horizontally-disposed flange mounted upon the wall of the building to extend outwardly therefrom within the lower part of the hood and immediately above the top edge of the door, and a weathering-flange secured to'the upper edge of the door and extending outwardly therefrom into proximity with the inner wall of said hood, substantially as described.

3. In combination with a sliding door and the carrier mechanism thereof, a hood mounted to inelose said carrier mechanism andthe upper edge of the door, a horizontally-disposed flange mounted upon the wall of the building to extend outwardly therefrom within the lower part of the hood and immediately above the top edge of the door, a second flange. mounted upon the upper portion of the door and arranged to extend horizontally outward, and a groove-like recess in the proximate wall of said hood, within which the outer edge of IIO said latter flange extends, substantially as described.

4. In combination with a sliding door and the carriermechanis'm thereof, a hood mounted to inclose said mechanism and the upper edge of the door, a flange mounted upon the upper portion of the door and arranged to extend horizontally outward, and a groove-like recess in the proximate wall of said hood, within which the outer edge of said flange extends, substantially as described.

5. In combination with a sliding door and the carrier mechanism thereof, a hood mounted to inclose said mechanism and the upper edge of the door, a horizontally disposed 

